John Irving (footballer, born 1867)

For the English footballer, see John Irving (footballer, born 1989).

John Irving
Personal information
Date of birth 1867
Place of birth Dumfries, Scotland
Date of death (1942-11-20)20 November 1942 (aged 75)
Place of death Nottingham, England
Position(s) Inside right
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1887–1889 Queen of the South Wanderers
1889–1895 Lincoln City[A] 44 (9)
1895–1896 Newark Town
1896–1897 Lincoln City 7 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

John Irving (1867 – 20 November 1942),[1] also known as Johnnie[2] or Johnny Irving,[3] was a Scottish professional association footballer who scored 10 goals from 51 appearances in the Football League in the 1890s playing as an inside right for Lincoln City.[4]

Playing career

Irving was born in Dumfries in 1867.[3] He played for home-town club Queen of the South Wanderers for two years before moving to England to join Lincoln City.[2] He made his debut on 5 November 1889 in the Midland League, and played for the club until the 1894–95 season, their second in the Football League. In the 1890–91 season, Irving was the club's leading scorer, with 12 goals from Football Alliance and FA Cup games.[1] He is believed to have been the first Lincoln player to be sent off in a Football League match: in November 1894, he and Grimsby Town's Tom Frith were dismissed for fighting.[5]

After losing his first-team place, Irving moved on in February 1895 to Newark Town in the Midland League before returning to Lincoln City a few months later.[3] His last game for their first team came in the Football League Second Division, a 3–0 defeat to Loughborough on 6 March 1897,[1] and he retired as a player later that year.[3] Over both spells with Lincoln, Irving scored 43 goals from 123 senior appearances.[1]

After playing

After finishing his playing career, Irving became Lincoln City's trainer, and served on their board of directors between 1897 and 1901.[2] It was during this period that David Calderhead, who had been a team-mate of Irving's at Queen of the South Wanderers, joined Lincoln as manager.[6][7] Irving's two sons also went on to become directors of the club.[2] Irving then kept a pub in Lincoln until his retirement in 1930, when he moved to Nottingham with one of his sons, who had joined the board of Notts County F.C. Irving died in that city in 1942 aged 75.[3]

Notes

A. ^ : Lincoln City appearances and goals are for Football League matches only, not those in the Midland League or Football Alliance.

References

  1. ^ a b c d "John Irving". The Lincoln City FC Archive. Lincoln City F.C. Retrieved 6 April 2010. Access individual season statistics via Season Stats dropdown menu.
  2. ^ a b c d Black, Ian. "Questions and Answers". Queen of the South F.C. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Profiles: Johnny Irving". The Forgotten Imp. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  4. ^ Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData (Tony Brown). p. 135. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  5. ^ Parle, Gary (19 February 2010). "We've Met (Grimsby) Before". Lincoln City F.C. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  6. ^ "The Managers". The Lincoln City FC Archive. Lincoln City F.C. Archived from the original on 15 February 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  7. ^ "David Calderhead – A Squad". Scottish Football Association. Retrieved 23 November 2010.